Croix de Marbre, Monumental cross near Promenade des Anglais, Nice, France

The Croix de Marbre is a stone cross near Promenade des Anglais in Nice, standing beneath a roof supported by four original stone columns. A white Carrara marble crucifix sits at the center of this sheltered structure.

A wooden cross was raised in 1538 where Pope Paul III officiated during the Congress of Nice, the meeting he brokered between Francis I and Charles V. Ottoman cannon fire destroyed it in 1543 during the siege of Nice. In 1568 the consuls Melchior Malet, Marius Baudoin, Emmanuel Gerbon and Jacques Cuggia, with assessor Honoré Grimaldi, dedicated the marble cross that replaced it, as the worn Latin panel above the arch records.

The cross gave its name to the surrounding quarter, the faubourg de la Croix-de-Marbre, which in the mid-19th century stretched from the mouth of the Paillon to the Magnan valley. English winter visitors settled there from the early 19th century and set up a church and cemetery in 1820. The Latin inscription on the pediment names the four consuls and the assessor Honoré Grimaldi who dedicated it on 4 March 1568.

The site sits directly alongside Promenade des Anglais in the city center and is easy to reach on foot. Visitors can view the monument during daylight hours and it offers a natural stopping point on a walk along the coast.

The four columns supporting the canopy are the only parts not replaced during the 1782-1783 restoration; the stone base was rebuilt and the dome covered with five hundred glazed tiles. The cross itself was consolidated with lead welding at that time.